An attractive North Carolina unisex place name, Raleigh's soft sound is particularly appropriate for a girl.

More common as a surname, Galvin is a possible alternative to Gavin and Calvin.

Hamza was the legendary uncle of the Prophet Muhammad, hero of The Hamzanama, the Story of Hamza.

Aderyn, like cousin Elowen, may have found her moment: Aderyn makes an original full name that gets you to the cute and trendy nickname Addie. Just remember to put the emphasis on the second syllable.

A name with a double animal connection via two distinct origins, one Native American and the other Hebrew and Biblical. Yona is rare in the US but not unknown: It was given to a dozen baby girls in 2021.

In its native Nigeria, Agu is a surname that signifies strength and being a force of nature. Agu as a first name has some pedigree, however: most notably via Agu Casmir, a famous Nigerian-Singaporean soccer player.

Konan is a spelling twist on the more familiar Irish Conan, given to a few dozen baby boys in the US last year. In the Irish language, there is no letter K but Irish names such as Ciaran and Caitlin are often "Anglicized" with K spellings as in Kieran and Katelyn, so Konan is not a stretch.

Stuffy presidential choice: consider Hayes instead.

Nature girl played by Audrey Hepburn in "Green Mansions," it now has an old-style bohemian feel.

This is one of the few butterfly names that is distinctly masculine, found as a surname in Finland.

Ayal is a boys' name used in modern Israel but virtually unknown in the US. Even more popular in Israel is the female form, Ayala.

Interesting multi-cultural option.

A bird name that could be thought of as an animated spin on Garrett.

Similar to the floral name Aster, this spelling derives separately from Old Provençal astur "hawk") and from the Icelandic name elements as ("god") and þor ("thunder").

One of the fierce new animal names new to name lists, helped by its strong x-ending.

A surname-style choice, Tench is derived from the Old French word tenche, which is the name for a type of freshwater carp. It likely originated as nickname, perhaps for someone who was a keen angler or who made their living catching tench. Rarely used as a given name, perhaps because of the possible rhymes, it could make an unusual middle name option to honor someone who enjoys fishing or who's into naval and military history, as a reference to Tench-class submarines.

The advantage of Orsa over the arguably-more-attractive Ursula is that it breaks the tie to the hideous she-witch of The Little Mermaid. Orsa definitely feels more ready for modern life now that brother name Orson is on the rise.

If you can name a boy Max instead of Maxwell, or Jax instead of Jackson, then why not Brax instead of Braxton? Over 3300 boys were named the trendy Braxton in the US in one recent year, but snappy short form Brax is a newcomer used for only a handful of babies. Brax may feel more popular than that, though, as many Braxtons are called Brax.

Kimana, the name of a resort in the foothills of Mountain Kilimanjaro in Kenya, would make an unexpected path to the nickname Kim.

May be the most modern, stylish Catherine nickname: more unusual than Kate or Cate, with an animal and word name edge. Cat Power is a trendy folksinger.